Ep. 11 How To Create Your Dream Life

Are you living your dream life? Yes or no? If you said no, take a listen... In this episode, I share bits and pieces of my story of working at a TV station and how my path meandered to where I am now: a digital nomad and dreamworker, traveling the world.

I can confidently say that I'm living my dream life now and there were some important action (and mental) steps I took that made this happen.

You'll hear the big and small things that helped me along the way, and also 6 practical steps you can take RIGHT NOW to start living your dream life. From 'shedding the shit' and paying attention to jealousy, to daring yourself to do something out of your comfort zone. Your dream life IS possible.

The hardest part is taking that first step - and you'll be surprised at how easy that first step *actually* is. Your dream life is closer than you think!

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Thank you so much for listening, it truly means the world to me. I would love to connect with you!

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Grateful for you. You are MAGIC! ✨

With love,
Andrea

Transcript

Andrea [00:00:01]:

Hello, and welcome to Dream Life Connection, your hub for magical personal development. I'm Andrea Morrison. This podcast is a blend of whimsical and grounding topics that will inspire you to live the life of your dream. In each episode, we'll take a mini journey through a dream topic, learn some modern magic tricks, and I'll share my stories as a wandering nomad dream guide and virtual alchemist. Thank you so much for being here. I would love to connect with you@dreamlifeconnection.com and Dreamlife Connection on Instagram. You are meant to be here. Welcome back to Dreamlife Connection.

Andrea [00:00:42]:

So happy you're here. So happy you're here. Thank you so much for coming back. I just have to share a crazy, crazy coincidence that just literally just happened right before I was about to sit down and record this episode. So this episode is all about creating your dream life. I mean, that's my whole business. That's my whole brand dream life connection. And it was so funny because I went up to my TV and I am hooked up to my iPad.

Andrea [00:01:13]:

It's connected. And I wanted to play an Ambiance video because I'm obsessed with them. I wanted to turn the volume down, but the remote for this TV doesn't work. So being in Bulgaria, we have this apartment, and what happens is you move into an apartment and it's fully furnished and they have everything already in here. They have all the dishes, all the bedding, everything. And so a while back, we realized, oh, the remote doesn't work for this TV. So I was like, you know what? We haven't used the remote on this TV. We've been using the little panel on the TV.

Andrea [00:01:49]:

And I was like, there's one cabinet that has a bunch of random DVDs in it. Maybe I need to check that cabinet one more time and see if they have a different remote that actually works for this TV. So I stood up on the little stool and I reached up, and then I saw this kind of weird gold thing that was kind of like this loopy thing. And I was like, oh, it's that. And I did not find the remote, unfortunately, but I pulled out this gold wire thing, and it's literally the word dream. And it has like, little fairy lights wrapped around the word dream. And I just started laughing because I was like, you've got to be kidding me. I was just about I mean, dream is like my favorite word.

Andrea [00:02:34]:

I love dream. And the fact that I was going to sit down and talk about creating your dream life, and then minutes before I pull out the word dream, I was like, this is meant to be. This is so perfect. So I literally have it set up on our little windowsill and it's little sparkling and it says dream, and it's so pretty and it makes me so happy. And I was like, this is what I'm talking about. This is the magic that I always talk about. So let's just get right in. I'm really excited.

Andrea [00:03:09]:

So I have been thinking about different topics for my podcast and I realized I'd never actually really shared my own story of how I got to where I am now. And so I was like, maybe I can kind of weave my story in with how to create your dream life because that's what I'm all about. I love helping people discover and create their dream lives. So no, I do not have like a five step formula to create your dream life. I have a lot of tips and suggestions and reminders about this process, this journey of creating your dream life. And before I get into that, I just want to share a little bit of my story so that you can see the proof of creating your dream life. Because I can say right now, I am living my dream life. And so I want to give a little context into how I got to where I am and then I'll share the biggest pieces of advice if you want to create your dream life.

Andrea [00:04:15]:

So a little bit about me. I grew up in Washington State. I had a great childhood, I was a good student. I went to University of Washington. And then as soon as I graduated, I had a job at the TV station in Seattle and I was working right under the Space Needle. It was seriously an amazing job. I loved my job. And working at that TV station, it became a part of my actually not even a part of it.

Andrea [00:04:44]:

It was life, my identity. I life and breathed that job. I loved it. I really was happy there. It was glamorous, it was fun, it was exciting, it was different every day. But then things kind of started shifting. I started tapping into my spirituality. It was after a bad breakup that I really started evaluating different things.

Andrea [00:05:19]:

I started reading more, I was journaling like crazy. I was going on hikes, going out in nature, and I started daring myself to step out of my comfort zone. And I also dived really, really deep into dream work. And my first lucid dream is really when I woke up. That first lucid dream was truly when I realized that there is so much more going on in our universe that we cannot even comprehend. No one can explain it. And it was from that experience of flying in my dream, it was absolutely incredible. And so at the time, being at this TV station, I was like convinced I was going to work there forever.

Andrea [00:06:08]:

I thought I was going to retire from there, I thought I was going to be a lifer. But then after going through all of these experiences, stepping out of my comfort zone, lucid dreaming, just tapping into my intuition more, I started kind of questioning my job and I really started questioning news because our biggest product at the TV station was news. And I realized how much news was impacting my mental health in a negative way. News was hurting me. And I believe even to this day, I believe that news impacts the collective consciousness in a negative way as well. It is very fear based. And I talked about this a little bit in my last episode. But news needs to be negative and fearful in order to get the views and the clicks.

Andrea [00:07:10]:

It's just fact. And I started realizing that is not really aligned with me anymore. And there was one day and one little conversation that made me realize I don't think that this is the place for me anymore. I don't think I belong anymore. And that was when a cameraman came in on a Monday morning and I asked him, hey, how was your weekend? And he said, oh, another fire, another dead body. No big deal. And that's when I kind of was like, you know what? I don't think I want to be at a place where dead bodies are the norm. Like, we've become so immune to the bad things going on in the world that it doesn't even faze us anymore.

Andrea [00:07:59]:

And I also analyzed my job. At its core. My job being in production and marketing was to essentially convince people to watch our channel, to watch our shows. And I realized I was completely out of alignment with my true self because here I was not even watching news yet I'm trying to get other people to watch news. So it felt very wrong to me. So through a series of signs and synchronicities, I ended up taking a trip to Bali. And going to Bali was truly what changed my life. I mean, there were a lot of things leading up to this, but it was while I was on a swing in Bali that I was like, what am I doing? Look at this whole world outside of my little bubble in Seattle.

Andrea [00:08:59]:

And ironically, my first lucid dream, I was actually in this dome and there were all these dark clouds and I was flying through these turbulent clouds and I flew out of this dome of Seattle and then it turned into Mario world. So I feel like my life was sort of symbolic of this lucid dream. But after I returned from Bali, I immediately knew I was like, I am not meant to be here without a my. I ended up putting in a two month's notice and I left the TV station and I went back to Bali. I went back to Bali without knowing. Well, I knew one person on the entire island and I went back and I lived there for four months. And I didn't have a job, nothing. But I just made it happen.

Andrea [00:09:51]:

I knew it was what I was meant to be doing. So in a nutshell, ever since Bali, for the past six years I've been traveling around I've lived in, I think it's like six or seven different countries now. And I knew I wanted to work with kids, so I became a nanny at one point. And then I went back to Thailand and I went and got the TEFL in southern Thailand. And then I flew up to northern Thailand. After I got my TEFL, I had no job lined up, nothing. And I just went up and I just trusted. And I was like, I'm going to find a job.

Andrea [00:10:28]:

And through a series of conversations, I ended up getting a job as a kindergarten teacher at a brand new international school. And I loved my classroom. I loved being a teacher. I loved, loved, loved my students. They were amazing. But it was still causing a little bit of friction in me because I didn't know this at the time, but one of my top values is freedom, especially with time. I need freedom of time, and I know that about myself. And so I was still feeling a little bit of friction and feeling the overwhelm and stress of being having to be at this place from a specific time to a specific time.

Andrea [00:11:13]:

And I was like, I just want to be free with my time. And I feel like that at the time, it was life. That's asking a lot. But here's the thing, you can ask whatever you want. You can get whatever you want in your life. Like, just because society tells you you need to work from this time to this time, doesn't mean that that's what you need to do. You can create the life that you want. So while I was teaching in Thailand, I ended up meeting my boyfriend Ning, and he was working remotely.

Andrea [00:11:45]:

And this was almost five years ago, and at the time, I didn't even know what a digital nomad was. And when I met Ning, he was mentioning that there's all these people that are working on their computers and they're traveling the world. And I was like, what? You can do that. I just have my iPad. I thought you could only work and be at a building and do it that way. So I started learning more about this whole digital nomad movement. And I know it's an old movement, but again, I was kind of naive to it all. And so I ended up leaving the school after a year of teaching, and I started teaching online.

Andrea [00:12:28]:

And it actually worked out perfectly because we ended up leaving Thailand and moved to Vietnam. And then COVID happened. And while we were essentially locked down, I was teaching online and could work normal times, but I still could choose my own hours. I could work whenever I wanted to. And I really liked the freedom of that. And at the same time, I knew that I was still destined for more than just teaching English online. I knew that there was more to my life than that. As much as I loved it, I was like, I feel like I need to do something more.

Andrea [00:13:09]:

And so I ended up creating my own business. And at the time, I called it Reality Dreamers because I wanted it to again connect this whole dream life and reality. And I was like, reality dreamers. I wanted it to be a community of people who are yes, in the 3D world, but also believe in the power of their dream. So I created Reality Dreamers and then it eventually evolved into Dream Life Connection, the business name that it is now. And it's so perfect for me. And what's so interesting is that I look back at my TV station days and I did love my job. I loved the glamour of it all.

Andrea [00:13:51]:

I loved everything that we were doing with TV and production. But you know what I loved most while working at the TV station? It was when I was connecting with people. I loved finishing my work and then walking around and chatting with people in different departments. And I had so many different friends and connections in all the different departments at this station. And I would go into their offices and I would chat with them, but it wasn't normal life water cooler talk. It was like, what's going on in your life? How are you feeling? What are your views on this? How can I help you? And I felt like I was almost sort of like this therapist walking around and connecting with all these people. And even the security guard was like she was always like, every time you come in, you're like the ray of sun. And I agree with that because I was so happy to be surrounded by people and to get to know them on a deeper level.

Andrea [00:14:52]:

I always wanted to get to know people on a different level. And so the fact that I have my own business now, where I connect with my clients and I'm helping them and I'm getting to know them on a deeper level, it's like I'm still doing what I was doing at the TV station, but it's so much more in alignment with who I am. So it makes perfect sense that I'm doing this. I became a certified life coach, I'm a certified dream interpreter, and now I combine it all and I help my clients get to their dream lives. So fast forward to now and I have my dream life, my dream business, and I can't wait to see how it's going to keep evolving because this is just the seed, this is just the start, it's going to keep growing. And I can confidently say that I'm living my dream life now. I look at my life and I think I wake up whenever I want. I don't remember the last time I've woken up to an alarm clock.

Andrea [00:15:53]:

And that was a huge thing for me. And I really struggled with that desire for a long time, I had this thought in the back of my mind like, what makes you think you deserve you don't have to wake up to an alarm. And I was like, you know what, if that's what I want, then that's what I'm going to create. And I still wake up very early, but I don't think we're supposed to wake up to alarm clocks. It's called an alarm for a reason. And I want to wake up naturally with the sun, especially because I'm in dream work and I care about my dreams and you have the most vivid dreams in the morning. So I was life. Having an alarm clock every morning is going to make my sleep and my dreamtime suffer.

Andrea [00:16:39]:

So I'm not waking up to an alarm. I wake up when I want. I essentially am working a job that I created myself. I am helping people, but it's something that I created for myself that fits perfectly with my needs, my wants, my personality, everything. I'm traveling the world. I'm not worried about money anymore. I'm in a loving relationship. I have solid friendships, and most importantly, I feel aligned with my authentic self.

Andrea [00:17:10]:

And I feel like I'm making a difference in the world. And I'm not trying to share all of this to be like, look at me, I have the best life. I want to share this to show that I am proof that it is possible and I will give a I was when I left Seattle, I was single, I had an apartment. I had it fairly easy to kind of move on. And I'm not saying everybody's dream life is to quit their job and travel the like, I'm not saying that that's what everybody needs to do. I know that I had it fairly easy, but hey, I had a car. And guess what? I sold it while I was in Thailand. It is possible.

Andrea [00:17:57]:

It is possible to make anything happen if you have the will and the desire. So when you're creating your dream life, there are no concrete steps. I think that there are only reminders and suggestions and tips. There's no five step formula. My way is not the only way. Like I said before, not everyone needs to quit their job and travel the world. Everybody's going to have a different dream life. And it's so important that you remember that.

Andrea [00:18:26]:

You don't have to know right now what your dream life even is. Because I remember back in the day, I was like, what do I even want? What are my goals? Where do I want to be? What do I want to do? I don't even know. So ask yourself now, are you living your dream life? Yes or no? If you say yes, woohoo. You got it. You're good. Keep going. Keep doing what you're doing. If you say no, it's time to start taking some steps toward your dream life.

Andrea [00:18:52]:

If you want. If you want to keep doing what you're doing, then that's fine. But if you want something more, it's time to start doing something to get closer to that dream life. I remember back in the day there's all the quotes that are like, follow your dreams. And I always got so irritated because I was like, I don't even know what my dreams are. What are my dreams? And if you don't know what your goals are, what your visions are, you can always start with what you don't want. That's really helpful too. Then think of the opposite.

Andrea [00:19:24]:

So for me, I didn't like being tied to a desk for a certain amount of time. So what's the opposite of that? Having a remote job and creating your own hours. So remember that creating your dream life, it is a meandering path and you unlock answers with each step. So it's important to just take that first step and see how you feel, see how you like it, and then you'll branch off. There's a gazillion different paths you could take. It is good to have a vision and a goal for long term, but just keep in mind that this path is going to change and morph as you go along. So here are some quick steps that you can do if you are curious about your dream life and if you want to start creating it now. So the first step I would recommend is to take an audit of the categories of your life currently.

Andrea [00:20:21]:

Think about your body, think about your health, your job, your relationship, your hobbies, your self care. Something that's really helpful is actually jealousy. Who are you jealous of? When somebody says that they're going to do something or they have this or they feel this way, if you ever notice jealousy coming up, take note of that. Because if you have jealousy, maybe that's what you need to start working toward. I know jealousy can be a negative feeling, but you can use it as kind of like a compass. Like, oh, I'm really envious that this person is doing this with their life. I kind of want that. Well, you can start taking the steps toward that type of life.

Andrea [00:21:08]:

The second step is to really get in touch with your intuition. Get in touch with your true voice. Like I always say, we're just bombarded with messages all the time. It's hard to hear our own thoughts sometimes. So get silent. I always recommend a mini Vipassana meditation. This is what I do maybe like once every five or six months. I just sit in a room in complete silence for 4 hours and that way your mind kind of clears out all these extra thoughts and you can finally start listening to your own voice.

Andrea [00:21:49]:

Something I always love encouraging my clients to do is to journal with your intuition. So how you do this is you have a journal and you have two different colored pens. One pen represents your ego, and the other represents your intuition. And you can start a conversation in your journal with your intuition, and you just start writing from your ego. You can ask your intuition questions. You can say, what do I want in life? Why do I feel this way about this? How should I go about creating my dream life? And listen. Listen to the whisper. Listen to that soft voice that's like your deepest voice, your cheerleader, your most supportive self.

Andrea [00:22:30]:

And oftentimes that part of us, we suppress and we quiet so much because we listen to our logic. We listen to our brain, our thinking brain. So by doing this with the two different colored pens, it helps you tap into your intuition easier, and you can start answering your ego's questions. How do I get to my dream life? And you'd be surprised at the answers that come out. Number three dreams. I mean, I'm always going to encourage dream work. Always. Always.

Andrea [00:23:03]:

Dreams are the language of your subconscious mind. So sometimes, if you don't even know what you want, start paying attention to your dream. Start interpreting them and figuring out, what is my dream trying to tell me. Like I said in my last episode, I used to have dreams all the time where I was in airports, and I didn't know at the time that I wanted to travel. Like, my subconscious mind was telling me, you want to travel. You want to experience other cultures. You want to be on the road, so go do that. You'd be surprised at what your dreams are trying to tell you.

Andrea [00:23:40]:

So once you have some clarity on what you do want and what you don't want, now comes the time to shed the shit. This is a phrase I came up with when I was clearing out my apartment, when I was getting ready to move to Bali. Yeah, this was when I was moving to Bali, and I was going through all my clothes, all my belongings, and I was like, I got to shed the shit. Just get rid of the crap. And I didn't realize how much shit I had held on to. And it wasn't just belongings. It was the thoughts, and it was the people. So many people in my life that I didn't realize were weighing me down, were not lifting me up, were not supporting me.

Andrea [00:24:25]:

And it's vital to shed that, to get rid of all this mental clutter so that you can focus on yourself and be surrounded by people thoughts and things that are in alignment with you and that support you and build you up. So after you shed the shit, start following the signs. Follow your feelings and take aligned actions. So for me, when I was at the TV station, it was crazy. I had asked the universe for a sign. I was like, I feel like I need to do something different with my life. And then we got an email at the TV station from one of the reporters who was leaving the station to go run his business, his villa in Bali. And when I got that email, I was, hmm, that's interesting.

Andrea [00:25:22]:

I think this is my sign. And I ended up going to Bali, and I stayed at that villa. It was perfect timing. I immediately knew that that was my synchronistic sign. That was like, you need to go to Bali, so start paying attention to these little things that pop up. You might notice, like, someone saying something or you might see something throughout your day that just sends a little bing. It's like, maybe I need to act on this. Maybe this was presented to me for a reason.

Andrea [00:25:54]:

So follow those signs and take aligned action and be flexible with it. Like I said, it's a meandering path. It's not this straight and narrow path. You never know which way you're going to go. Like, for example, when I was in Thailand, I didn't even know what a digital nomad was five years ago. I wasn't like, I want to work remotely and travel the like, I didn't even know that that was an option. But here I am now because I just kept taking these little aligned actions based on the people and the experiences and the knowledge that I was gaining along the way. And the most important step for creating your dream life, hands down, in my opinion, is stepping out of your comfort zone.

Andrea [00:26:41]:

It's by stepping out of your comfort zone that you grow and evolve into this dream life. Because if you don't step out of your comfort zone, if you're happy doing what you're doing right now, then you're good. But if you want something more, you got to start challenging yourself. Otherwise it turns into this hamster wheel where you're doing the same thing every day, and it can start really, really small. And for me, my big actually, it wasn't even big. It was a small comfort zone challenge. It was to go to a movie by myself. And I dared myself, and I went to this movie, and I took a book, and I was like, I need to have something to entertain me before the movie starts because I'm so nervous.

Andrea [00:27:29]:

I was terrified. And I remember sitting there waiting, reading my book, and this woman came, and she sat down by me, and she was like, oh, wow, you brought a book. Oh, you're so refined. And I was like, oh, okay. I guess I'm refined. Okay, cool. But that snowballed into it turned into me bungee jumping and then skydiving. And then I took a trip to California by myself.

Andrea [00:27:55]:

I rented an airbnb and rented a car and did a mini trip by myself. And then it turned into going to Bali. And then I moved back to Bali by like, it snowballs. And like I always say I'm not trying to say this is the path that you need to take. Everybody's path is unique. Everybody wants different things. Everybody is moved to do different things. So I'm not saying, like, pack up your bags and go.

Andrea [00:28:27]:

Just start taking baby steps, baby challenges to get closer to your goal. And if you don't know what your goal is, just start with something and see how it feels, and it will evolve. It will become clearer as you go, I promise. You are always on the right path, and there is no wrong decision. That was super important for me to remember as I was going along, one of my biggest fears. I remember being in Bali, and I did a yoga retreat, and there was a journal prompt that was like, what is your biggest fear? And I was like, making the wrong decision. That's always been one of my biggest fears. And I felt like cheating from the good place.

Andrea [00:29:12]:

I'm always indecisive, like, what is the right choice? I overthink it. I stress, but then I remind myself there is no wrong decision. It's always the right decision because it always leads you to the place that you need to be. I trust that. I believe that. I hope this helps. I hope this inspires you. Again, your dream life doesn't need to be this big grandiose thing.

Andrea [00:29:39]:

I just hope that you know that it is possible. If you want to be happier, you can be happier. If you want to be more free, you can be more free. You just have to start believing it yourself and start taking those baby steps. All right? Wow. I'm sounding so much like a little coach right now. But I believe that I am very passionate about this, and that is why I have my dream life connection business. I want to help people connect with their dream lives.

Andrea [00:30:09]:

So if you ever are feeling lost or confused, reach out to me anytime. If you want to start interpreting your dream, like I said, they can reveal a lot to you that you may not even realize your dream life is possible. That is the first step, is believing that it is possible, and it is guarantee it. Thank you so much for being here. I appreciate you more than you know. I always say that, but it's true. I really, really appreciate that you're listening and connecting, because my hope is that by connecting with this type of message, you're on the way to reaching your dream life. So just keep going.

Andrea [00:30:56]:

Keep going. I believe in you. Have a wonderful week, and see you next time. Bye bye. Thank you so, so much for being here. It truly means the world to me. If you'd like to receive even more magic, be sure to subscribe to my Magic Monday newsletter@dreamlifeconnection.com. While you're there, take a look around and see if any of my offerings speak to you.

Andrea [00:31:19]:

I offer one to one guidance business, alchemy Dream therapy and Tarot Card. Readings. So if you're looking for even more magic, you're in the right place. Oh, and be sure to look for the little white rabbit somewhere on my website to receive a fun surprise. I would love to connect with you. You can always find me at Dreamlife connect on Instagram. And never forget, you are magic.